PYQ trends
How MPSC exams have changed
Old papers were set for older patterns. Here's what changed, so you know how to use them.
The big changes
- 1
Rajyaseva Mains
Now descriptive, like UPSC, with 9 written papers.
- 2
One Gazetted Prelims
One common Prelims now leads to separate Mains for each service.
- 3
Group B & C split
Separate Group B and Group C exams, each with its own Prelims and Mains.
- 4
Group C grows
More posts are being added. Technical posts get their own Mains.
What it means for you
Rajyaseva Mains
- Older Mains papers were objective. Use them for content, not for format.
- Practise writing answers for the new pattern.
Prelims & Group B/C
- Rajyaseva Prelims GS and CSAT papers are still very useful.
- For Group B and C, papers from 2024 onward match today's pattern best.
One answer-key fact: in Rajyaseva Prelims 2026, the final key cancelled 6 questions in GS Paper 1 and none in CSAT Paper 2.
Topic-wise: Rajyaseva Prelims GS Paper 1, 2013–2026
How many of the 100 questions came from each subject, year by year. Based on 1380 questions we counted one by one.
The numbers, year by year
Darker means more questions. Scroll sideways on a phone.
| Subject | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polity | 15 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| History | 14 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Geography | 16 | 18 | 11 | 16 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Economy | 15 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 15 |
| Environment | 6 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Science & Tech | 23 | 31 | 23 | 19 | 20 | 18 | 22 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Current affairs | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Other | 2 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maharashtra (History + Geography) | 3 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Questions counted | 100 | 100 | 100 | 93 | 100 | 97 | 96 | 98 | 100 | 99 | 98 | 100 | 100 | 99 |
Questions we could read and tag, by year: 2013: 100, 2014: 100, 2015: 100, 2016: 93, 2017: 100, 2018: 97, 2019: 96, 2020: 98, 2021: 100, 2022: 99, 2023: 98, 2024: 100, 2025: 100, 2026: 99. Each paper has 100 questions.
Maharashtra-specific questions
Questions clearly about Maharashtra’s history or geography, per paper.
Current affairs questions
What the numbers say
- The paper now has a fixed shape. From 2021 to 2026, every paper had 15 Polity, 20 Science & Tech and 15 Current affairs questions. History, Geography and Economy each had 13 to 15. Environment had 5 to 6.
- Science & Tech is the biggest subject every single year. It had 18 to 31 questions (the most was 31 in 2014). Since 2021 it has been exactly 20 of 100.
- Current affairs has grown. It was 6 to 9 questions a year in 2013–2016. In every paper from 2021 to 2026 it was 15.
- Random general knowledge has gone. Questions on sports, awards and trivia (our ‘Other’) were 13 in both 2015 and 2016. From 2018 to 2026 there were none.
- Maharashtra matters, steadily. Questions specifically about Maharashtra’s history or geography were between 6 and 8 in every paper from 2019 to 2026. Before that the number swung a lot: 9 in 2015 but only 1 in 2017 and 1 in 2018. Most are on social reformers and Maharashtra’s rivers, districts and resources.
- Economy settled at about 15. It had only 6 to 15 questions in 2013–2016, but 14 to 15 every year since 2017.
- Environment is small but always there. 5–6 questions a year recently, usually ecology basics, pollution and treaties.
What this means for your preparation
Where your marks come from
- Science & Tech, Polity and Current affairs give 50 of 100 questions in recent papers. Don't leave any of them weak.
- History, Geography and Economy give about 15 each. Cover all three; don't bet on one.
- Keep a separate Maharashtra list: reformers, rivers, districts, resources. It is worth 6 to 8 questions.
- Current affairs is 15 questions. Read news for the 12 to 18 months before the exam, including Maharashtra schemes.
Next steps
- Solve the 2021–2026 papers first. They match today's pattern best.
- Use older papers (2013–2016) for practice, not to guess the mix. They had more random GK.
- Try a timed paper in our free online test.
CSAT (Paper 2): a quick look
CSAT has 80 questions. We only sorted them into broad groups.
| Year | Passage-based (comprehension) | Decision-making | Maths, reasoning & other |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 50 | – | 30* |
| 2017 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
| 2018 | 50 | – | 30* |
| 2021 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
| 2022 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
| 2023 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
| 2024 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
| 2025 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
| 2026 | 50 | 5 | 25 |
- Every CSAT paper we checked (2016–2018 and 2021–2026) opened with 10 reading passages and 50 questions on them. Some passages are in Marathi only.
- In every CSAT answer key in our archive (2014, 2017 and 2020–2026), MPSC lists 5 decision-making questions (questions 76–80) with part marks for each option and no minus marking.
- That leaves about 25 questions of maths, reasoning and other skills.
* For 2016 and 2018 we have no CSAT answer key, so the decision-making count is not shown and the last column includes them. We did not analyse CSAT for 2013–2015 (the papers do not label passage ranges clearly) or for 2019–2020 (not processed yet). We did not split maths from reasoning.
How we counted
We read every question in GS Paper 1 from 2013 to 2026 and put each one into one subject. The papers are scanned, so we first turned them into text (OCR) and used the English version of each question. We could read 1380 of 1400 questions; the rest were too garbled to read reliably. Where a missing question sat between two questions of the same subject in the paper's own subject block, we counted it in that subject; otherwise it is shown as ‘Unclassified’. Maharashtra questions are those clearly about Maharashtra’s history or geography (for example a reformer, a district or a river in the state). Some questions could fit two subjects (a census question can be Geography or Economy); we picked one. One person did the tagging, so treat small differences of 1–2 questions as noise.
CSAT (Paper 2) is not part of these subject counts. See the CSAT section above.
Want to check our work? Download the question-by-question list (CSV). It has the year, question number, subject and Maharashtra flag for all 1400 questions.
Source: mpsc.gov.in · last checked 12 Nov 2026. If anything differs, the official MPSC notice is correct.